Journal of Research in Medical Sciences | October 2013 | 922 much atention has been made toward kidney protective efciency of selenium. The results of the study conducted by Randjelovic et al., showed selenium supplementation atenuates oxidative-stress-associated renal injury by reducing oxygen free radicals and lipid peroxidation in gentamicin-treated rats, [4] while gentamicin-renal damage in Wistar rats is a model of acute kidney injury indicated that gentamicin-induced tissue injury was mediated through oxidative reactions. [5-11] Selenium is a trace element that participates as a cofactor in several enzymes, one of them is participant in the regulation of enzymatic antioxidant defenses. [12] It was found that selenium supplementation in renal patients reduce the products of oxidative stress. [12-14] In a study by Taskin et al., on adriamycin-induced renal damage in rats showed selenium is efective in vivo against adriamycin-induced kidney injury via the restoration of total antioxidant and oxidant status, which prevented mitochondrial damage. [15] Recent fndings have shown that plasma selenium level have been found to be reduced in patients with acute kidney injury. [16-18] indeed, low serum selenium levels are a frequent fnding in patients with chronic renal failure too. [19-21] However, to date, few investigations have studied the association of hyposelenemia and morbidity and mortality in renal failure patients. Thus, these available data lend further evidence for the atribution of selenium in its kidney protective property. In this regard, to understand the selenium kidney protective properties beter, more experimental rat models or clinical studies are suggested. Ali Ghorbani, Azar Baradaran 1 Department of Nephrology, Golestan Hospital, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, 1 Department of Clinical Pathology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran Address for correspondence: Dr. Azar Baradaran, Department of Clinical Pathology, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran. E-mail: azarbaradaran@yahoo.com REFERENCES 1. Hemati S, Arbab JN, Rafenia M, Ghavamnasiri M. The efects of vitamin E and selenium on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in cancer patients treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy: A randomized, placebo-controlled study. J Res Med Sci 2012;17:S49-58. 2. Nematbakhsh M, Ashraf F, Pezeshki Z, Fatahi Z, Kianpoor F, Sanei MH, et al. A histopathological study of nephrotoxicity, hepatoxicity or testicular toxicity: Which one is the first observation as side efect of Cisplatin-induced toxicity in animal model. J Nephropathology 2012;1:190-3. 3. Ghorbani A, Omidvar B, Parsi A. Protective effect of selenium on cisplatin induced nephrotoxicity: A double-blind controlled randomized clinical trial. J Nephropathology 2013;2:129-34. 4. Randjelovic P, Veljkovic S, Stojiljkovic N, Velickovic L, Sokolovic D, Stoiljkovic M, et al. Protective efect of selenium Comment on: The effects of Vitamin E and Selenium on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in cancer patients treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy: A randomized, placebo-controlled study Sir, We read with great interest the published article in the esteemed ‘Journal of Research in Medical Sciences’, by Hemati et al., entitled, “The efects of vitamin E and selenium on cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity in cancer patients treated with cisplatin-based chemotherapy: A randomized, placebo-controlled study”. In 22 cancerous patients, who received 400 IU vitamin E and 200 µg selenium daily and 24 patients, who received placebo, they found that vitamin E and selenium can be used to reduce cisplatin-induced nephrotoxicity and bone marrow suppression. [1] In this paper, we would like to mention a few points about kidney protective efcacy of selenium. Renal injury is common following cisplatin infusion. [2]. Recently, in a double-blind controlled randomized clinical trial, we studied 122 cancerous patients (85 male and 37 female; age range of 14-82 years old) who were candidate to receive chemotherapy regimens consisting cisplatin. They were allocated into two groups using a randomized numbered list. Intervention group received a 400 mcg selenium tablet/day and patients in control group took a placebo tablet/day. Primary end points were an increase in plasma creatinine above 1.5 mg/dl in men and 1.4 mg/dl in women, or increase of plasma creatinine more than 50% from baseline or urine fow rate less than 0.5 ml/kg/h. Serum creatinine level was measured initially and on the 5 th day afer cisplatin therapy. In our study, in case group no laboratory signs of kidney injury were observed, while among placebo group, seven patients had criteria of acute kidney injury. We concluded that selenium could probably prevent cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury, when it is added to hydration therapy in cancerous patients. [3] Recently, letter tO editOr